


Dawn Breaks Even

by Foxcote



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Introspection, Lance is tired and troubled, M/M, Post-S6, season 6, so is everyone else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-12 10:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15338181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxcote/pseuds/Foxcote
Summary: After the destruction of the castle, The team takes a brief rest stop on a quiet little planet.During his stay Lance tries (and fails) to wind down, makes a new friend, and wrestles with some difficult feelings for an existing one.At least, he thinks he and Keith are still friends...





	1. Twilight

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic ever! 
> 
> I wrote this because I thought s6 lacked 1) Keith/Lance interaction and 2) Krolia (in general). 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

  
  
It wasn’t uncommon for the com lines to run silent in the wake of a particularly exhausting mission.  
  
  
As a general rule,The more there was to say after an encounter the less anyone wanted to talk. As Lance cruised in formation alongside the other lions, he once again found himself in this strange liminal space between action and reaction.  
  
  
He couldn’t bring himself to voice anything. It was as if, in an effort to preserve his sanity from completely disintegrating, his mind was stupefying him with a drone of white noise. Like the stark brightness of the rift had lodged in his consciousness as a single note stretching into oblivion.  
  
  
Though, that could’ve just been tinnitus.  
  


Bless whatever space deity was looking over them for advanced alien hearing-loss prevention treatments or he’d be as deaf as his grandma by now.  
  
  
But there was far more on his mind than a persistent ringing. Only hours ago they’d disposed of a deathless, deeply disturbed megalomaniac prince, closed off inter dimensional tears and lost their home and auxiliary battlements of the last…However long the’d been in space doing this insane job.  
  
  
Not to mention all the less literal (but just as causal) bombshells that had been dropped. Alteans. Clones. Shiro’s real return. Keith’s scary blue wolf. Keith’s scary purple mum.  
  
  
Keith.  
  
  
Lance sighed. His composure was hanging on by a thread as it was. He wasn't about to make it worse but trying to unpack what the black paladin’s blunt and bizarre return was making him feel.  
  
  
For goodness sake, he should’ve been _ecstatic_. And he was sure he was deep down. Shiro was alive and safe. They were all in one piece. The universe was saved again. They were going _home_. He was going to see his family; Pretty much the number one thing he’d wanted to do since he got into space.  
  
  
After saving the universe of course -the two were kind of mutually exclusive.  
  
  
Maybe that reality was still just a little beyond his grasp as they drifted through the vast expanse of nothing that was this sector. travelling, as they were, in very fast but very non-wormholing space vessels.  
  
  
It had never been more apparent that the teleduv had spoiled them rotten.  
  


It was going to take them ‘a while’ to get to earth, according to Coran. Though, Given the mental and physical strain of what they had undergone, he didn’t really mind the boredom that was non-magical space travel.

  
It was peaceful, at least, and he’d take it.  
  
  
He closed his eyes,took a deep breathe, and let it go. In his blindness he was engulfed in the gentle soundscape of the cockpit. The constant electronic hum, the odd shuffles emanating from Kalternecker at the back end of the space. The rhythmic pinging of the radar…  
  
  
_ping  
  
_  
Breathe in.  
  
  
_ping  
  
  
_ breathe out.  
  
  
_ping  
  
  
_ Breathe in…  
  
  
…  
  
  
He hadn’t realised he’d fallen asleep until Red’s deep rumbling purr roused him back into consciousness.  
  
  
Lance re-focused his eyes to the screen. Two hours had passed.  
  
  
“ Oh geez, sorry buddy,” he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm, speaking through a yawn “ thanks for not letting me crash into the others.” Red wouldn’t normally be so lenient as toallow him to nap at the steering console. He must have been _really_ exhausted for her to take pity. “What’s up?”  
  
  
In answer the com line lit up on his monitor.  
  
  
“ Attention Paladins!” Lance could swear he heard Allura wince in the background at Coran’s volume “we’ve now been flying for approximately one quintant. As per the universal safety regulations regarding battle-class crafts…”  
  
  
Lance registered Coran going on about muscle atrophy and blood flow but otherwise zoned out in his daze. He yawned again and activated his comm line.  
  
  
“Coran can you repeat that. But only like, the last bit?”  
  
  
Pidge’s groggier-than-usual voice piped in. “ We’re stopping at a nearby planet to stretch our legs Lance. Check you radar. Coran’s uploaded some junk.”  
  
  
“m’kay. Thanks” Lance mashed the radar panel to his right and a planetary profile appeared in front of him as Red adjusted their coordinates. The planet’s name had a lot of ‘l’s’ in it. It was small. Target location uninhabited and near a waterway. weatherforecast mild and sunny. Arrival time estimated five minutes. Looked good.  
  
  
He stretched in his seat. Now that he thought about it his legs did feel pretty stiff. The lions weremasterworks of martial engineering but they were hardly luxury comfort cruisers. The was more of a ‘castleship’ thing.  
  
  
O _uch. don’t think about that._  
  
  
Lance cleared his throat. “Ok Kalternecker, Ready to get some fresh air?”  
  
  
  
***************  
  
  
  
The more poetic spirit within Lance would have likened the crisp, menthol-smelling air of Ellulin to a fresh start. A symbolic re-awakening of the paladins’ collective journey as they stopped to reflect on their own legacy in the making.  
  


But he was tired, and trying to remove this cow from his lion was really pissing him off.  
  
  
“ Come _on_ Kalternecker! Don’t you want to go eat some grass or something?” In the past fifteen minutes he’d managed to shift her half-way down red’s mouth bridge. His shoulders were starting to hurt from pushing his weight against her.  
  
  
“You know what? Fine! Stay here then. Don’t complain to me when you’re cooped up in there again for another day.”  
  
  
The cow looked completely non-plussed. He could feel Red’s exasperation at having a large animal perched on what was, anatomically speaking, her tongue.  
  
  
She could deal. She was a robot. Lance wasn’t. “Be back soon, buddy. Gonna go walk for a bit.” He hopped off the bridge and walked past her giant claws, giving them a fond pat on the way.  
  
  
As he traversed Red’s flank the massive forms of the other lions came into view. They had all landed on the bank of a large, slow running river. It was black in the dim pre-dawn light, but the gentle sound of the running water was soothing and the surrounding plant life wasn’t _so_ bizarre that he couldn’t, for a moment, feel like he was back on earth.  
  
  
He could make out Hunk and Pidge outside their lions, sitting on the grass by Yellow’s right paw. Beyond them was the blue lion. He spied the pink of Allura’s armour in the distance situated next to two figures; Romelle and Coran, judging by the heights and one’s long, flowing hair.

  
Last in line was Black. The golden crown of the largest lion stood high above the tree line. It was already illuminated brilliantly by the dawning sun.  
  
  
Keith was nowhere to be seen.  
  


Lance’s emotional constitution at this point was too weak for him to pretend he wasn’t disheartened by the fact.  
  
  
He was interrupted mid mournful sigh when Kalternecker mooed loudly behind him and slammed her huge, moist nose into his cheek.  
  
  
“ Aw, gross!” Lance swiped at his now slimy face. “Can’t you go frolic somewhere?” He pushed at her huge head and she dolefully veered away toward the river.  
  
  
Lance huffed and stretched out his back, breathing the cool air in deeply. He felt as though he should go and talk to someone who was not his cow. He looked back to the yellow lion and the two figures beneath it.  
  
  
_team punk it is.  
  
  
_ The grass under his feet was a deep purple in the dim light and was pleasantly spongy as he walked over to the other paladins. he tried to engrave the sensation into his mind, knowing he would soon be walking on hard metal again for goodness-knows-how-long. Pidge, leaning against one of Yellow’s claws, looked up at him when she heard the gentle squelching of his boots on the moist ground.  
  
  
“Hey Lance.” _Good lord_ she sounded tired. When Hunk turned to look at him, he shared a similar weary eyed expression to the green paladin. He feared he may have actually just woken him up.  
  
  
“hey guys, what’s up?” He probably looked and sounded just as bad.  
  
  
“Not much. I’m just-” she yawned hugely “going through my personal logs.” The orange screen in front of her was laden with text that he wasn’t even going to try to read. “ I’m gonna give a copy of them to my mum and dad. I just have to edit out the stuff that’s too dangerous from this version though. They don’t need to know all that.”  
  
  
“and I’m taking a nap,” Hunk turned and looked pointedly at Pidge “ because my records are perfectly crafted off the bat.” Pidge kept her eyes on the screen and halfheartedly kicked at Hunk’s leg.  
  
  
He shouldn’t have been surprised that Pidge and Hunk -two massive nerds- kept journal logs. Even so, he felt that increasingly common pang of isolation.

  
“cool” he said.  


  
He could keep a diary too. He just… Didn’t want to.  
  
  
“ How ‘bout you Lance?” Hunk’s tone was genuine, but the inflection was fighting a losing battle against his tiredness. “ You holding up ok?”  
  
  
“ Yeah. It’s just a lot to process, y’know?”  
  
  
Hunk hummed in agreement. “ You should take a nap. Everything is easier when you’re well rested. Or asleep.”  
  
  
“Eh, I don’t know. I think I should make the most of the pit stop.” He wasn’t about to tell them he’d slept for two hours in Red. Besides, there was a restlessness in him now; buzzing at the back of his mind. He felt like a kid at a slumber party who’d downed way too much sugar; tired but possessed by an unholy energy.  
  


“ Well, why don’t you go for a walk or a swim or something?” Pidge was scrolling through the text again. “ water is safe. No hostile life in this region. Go nuts.”  
  
  
As Pidge talked his eyes trailed back to the black lion. Still no Keith. “Yeah. Maybe that’s a good idea…”  
  
  
Pidge looked up and followed his gaze “neither of us know where Keith went, if you were wondering.”  
  
  
Lance snapped his attention back to the littlest paladin “ Why would I care-"  
  
  
Pidge continued over him “he was the first to leave his lion. By the time we came out he’d already disappeared. I’m sure he’ll be back soon enough.”  
  
  
Lance crossed his arms, staring down at his boots. There was a few seconds of silence.  
  
  
“ Did you…Did either of you feel like he was a bit _different_?”  
  
  
Pidge and Hunk gave each other a meaningful look. He got the feeling they may have already broached this subject in his absence.  
  
  
“ Well…” Hunk began cautiously “ He seemed a bit more…Intense. Not in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way, just more-” Hung made a hard forward motion with his hand “ _intense_.”  
  
  
Next to him, Pidge sighed. “Lance, this whole situation is a mess,” She gestured across the three of them “ _We’re_ a mess. Stress does things to people. Maybe that was just Keith coping as best he could.” She removed her glasses and rubbed at her weary eyes. “ Here’s an idea: Why don’t you just go _find_ him and _talk_ to him instead of trying to guess what’s going on in his head.”  
  
  
“ You said he left.”  
  
  
“yeah, but he’s not _far_. If you’re not going to waitquietly for him to come back, why don’t you kill two birds with one stone: go for a walk and find him. Then you can have as many heart-to-heart conversations as you want.”  
  
  
“ I don’t want a heart-to-heart conversation with him!”  
  
  
“fine; you can go bitch to him about his attitude then.”  
  
  
“I’m wasn’t planning on fighting with him either!”  
  
  
“ Well then, what _do_ you want to do Lance?! If you’re not just gonna wait then go and _do_ something and stop harassing us!”  
  
  
“Whoa! Guys, _chill”_ Hunk’s eyes snapped open at Pidge’s rapidly raising voice. “c’mon, we’re all tired and messed up. Let’s just take it easy.”

  
  
Pidge dropped her back against the metal claw behind her, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “ You’re right. Sorry Lance, I didn’t mean that. You can stay if you want.”  
  
  
“ S’fine, Pidge.” Lance let his eyes wander to the water. “you two are right. I should take a walk. Clear my head. I’ll talk to you soon.” He turned to walk in the direction of the bank.  
  
  
He got few metres before Pidge’s voice rang out above the mumble of the river “ Hey Lance! If you do find Keith, tell him he needs to get a haircut ASAP or I’m coming at him with a pair of scissors.”  


 

He smiled to himself and threw her a thumbs up.  


  
  


* * *

  
  
  
As Lance walked closer to the bank he attempted to narrow his focus to the pleasant coolness of the morning air. He’d taken off his chest plate and shoulder guards upon leaving the lion and his under-suite had, sensing he was within a safe, breathable, temperate atmosphere, deactivated its regulating protocols. He almost felt as though he was taking a lakeside stroll in a wetsuit. When he had reached the course lakes sand he’d removed his boots; giving in to the childish impulse to feel the wet sand give underneath him at the point where the water lapped at the shore. The boots clutched in his hands swung back and forth with his strides.  


  
He must have looked like a total dork, but he was enjoying himself.  
  
  
Glancing over to his right he saw the Alteans closer up; they were sitting arounda small fire that Coran was fussing over. Allura and Romelle were engaged in conversation. Hardly surprising; they had _a lot_ to talk about. Even in the dull light, He could see Allura’s face. She looked happy. Over Romelle’s shoulder, she caught his eye. Lance smiled and gave a wave. She mirrored the gesture, then pulled her attention back to the new Altean.  
  
  
His smile dropped and he lowered his arm.  
  
  
_Well what did you expect? For her to run over and give you a hug?  
  
  
_ He tore his eyes away from the princess, nauseated by his own pettiness.  
_  
  
Get over yourself.  
_  
  
Peering dutifully past them, Lance once again gazed at Black. Her eyes were dull now; a stark contrast to the electrifying blue that lit them up during Keith’s reappearance. Her left wing was miraculously healed and its tip, hit with the first rays of dawn high above,shone blindingly. Even asleep, her power was arresting.  


  
Without really registering his movements, he found himself walking away from the riverside, towards the lion.  
  
  
Maybe Pidge was right. Maybe Keith was nearby skinning an alien rabbit or something. Or playing fetch with his weird dog. Or-  
  
  
Lance paused when he heard a metallic click ahead of him. It came from behind a rock formation. On the ground beside it he could faintly make out the hard angles of discarded shoulder guards. Too big and monochrome to Be Keith’s. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a flash of purple hair from behind the silhouetted stone.  
  
  
He don’t know why he thought Keith’s mother _wouldn’t_ be here. It had just sort of been a baseless hope of his.  
  
  
It wasn’t like he disliked her. It was just… She was Keith’s _mum_. His big, scary, purple, alien, likely-multiple-counts-of-murder-under-her-belt mum.  
  
  
He’d always sucked at talking to people’s parents. And quite frankly he’d already made a pretty poor impression. He hadn’t even _introduced_ himself.  
  
  
He rocked unsurely on his feet and eyed the lakeside longingly, wondering if it was too late to turn around continue his previous breezy route. It occurred to him that Krolia, being a Marmoran spy, almost definitely knew he was there and was courteously feigning ignorance. She was giving him a chance to run. Like the cold-footed coward he was currently being.  
  
  
He was probably making things worse by hesitating. It was making him look indecisive. She probably thought he was a spineless now. Was he insulting her? What if he was stamping all over some galra custom by-  
  
  
Lance mentally slapped himself. Pidge was right. He needed to stop trying to get into people’s heads.  
  
  
_Come on Lance, you’re a paladin for pity’s sake. Just go an say hello and ask her if she’s seen Keith. It’s not that hard._  
  
  
Snapping out of his stupor, he continued walking with forcibly confident steps. As he got closer, his angle allowed him to see more of her. She was focused on some metal device in her hands; a neutral look on her face.  
  
  
He wondered what the proper way to greet her was. Was it weird to call her by her name off the bat? It seemed weird. Maybe he should try something more formal, just to be safe.  
  
  
‘ma’am _’._ That’d do. Respectful. Classy.  
  
  
There was only a few metres between them now. Lance could see the subtle light reflecting on her _claws_ as she turned the surface of the metal object. Her gun, he could make out now. At least part of it.  
  
  
His steps momentarily faltered. What if he screwed this up? Would she get mad at him? Would _Keith_ get mad at him? He didn’t want to get on Keith’s mum’s blacklist. Or hit list.  
  
  
Oh god she was looking at him now. Looking at him with her freaky yellow eyes that glowed in the half-light. He felt like prey.  
  
  
_Say hello idiot she's waiting.  
  
  
“hello ma’am.”  
  
  
“hello ma’am.”  
  
  
“hello ma’am.”  
  
  
…_ Well bless. She had the same nose as Keith.  
_  
  
“_ Hi, mum!” He squawked.  
  
  
Lance froze; his bare foot falling with a heavy squelch on the ground not a metre away from her. He felt his entire being constrict with fear.  
  
  
_oh no…_  
  
  
Krolia’s hands had stilled on the gun. She was looking at him with mild concern.  
  
  
Boot cuffs crushed in his fist and toes cold from the dew, Lance took a moment to wallow in howastronomically stupid he must have looked. He then immediately launched into back-pedalling.  
  
  
“ I mean MA’AM. Hello ma’am. You’re not my mum. You’re Keith’s mum. Mother. My mum’s on earth. And she’s not a galra so…”  
  
  
Krolia slid the magazine cartridge back into the frame of her gun, keeping her eyes fixed owlishly on him.  
  
  
“you’re not her…” The sentence disappeared down Lance’s throat alongside a nervous swallow.  
  
  
She stayed silent for a few agonising seconds. then, much to Lance’s surprise, she gave him a small smile.  
  
  
“You must be Lance.”  
  
  
Before Lance had a chance to respond, Krolia put aside her weapon, stood up to her full, intimidating height and offered him her outstretched hand. “It is nice to properly meet you.”  
  
  
In his daze, he nearly went for a handshake. Fortunately at the last minute he recalled the standard galra arm-grasp thing. He couldn’t remember exactly whether he was to grasp before or after the elbow. He went for after. Thankfully, she did as well; possibly out of pity for his already destroyed dignity. Though if he _was_ doing it wrong she didn’t react in any apparent way.  
  
  
Then again- the whole ‘spy’ thing. She could probably mask reacting to mild social faux pas pretty well.  
  
  
“Nice to meet you too, ma’am.”  
  
  
She dropped her grip. “Call me Krolia. I hold no rank over you, paladin.”  
  
  
“ Oh. Ok, cool…Thanks?” The Blades were always oddly terse about everything. He’d long since learned that their intensity didn’t equate to anger as he’d first interpreted, but it was hard not to feel instinctually confronted when talking to them.  
  
  
Krolia sat back down, Apparently satisfied with that interaction. As she brought the disassembled weapon back into her grasp, Lance took stock of her eerily familiar facial profile. It wasn’t just the nose; the set of her jaw, the persistent agitated furrow of her brow, the near-identical hair bangs. It was almost funny how much she looked like Keith. Or Keith looked like her.  


  
He still excused himself for not recognising who she was immediately, though. She _was_ still a purple, seven foot tall alien who showed up in a full suite of empire armour. Also her face was weirdly youthful; she barely looked older than Shiro. Her general appearance didn’t exactly scream ‘mother’.  
  
  
“ Keith has told me much about you. ” Krolia was threading some sort of cloth through the void spaces of the weapon frame. Her eyes flicked to his. “You are his friend?”  
  
  
Her tone was indecipherable. Nevertheless, he felt like she was accusing him of something.  
  
  
_Keith is literally the only thing we have in common. She’s just trying to be friendly. Calm down, moron._  
  
  
“ Yeah! I mean, we’re more like rivals. Competing to one-up each other and all that?”  
  
  
“…rivals?” Her brow furrowed in confusion.  
  
  
“Uh huh.” Lance attempted the lean cooly against the stone beside him; the effect diminished by the loud wet squelch emanating from around his bare feet when he shifted.  
  
  
“I see.” She said “ That wasn’t the impression I got.”  
  
  
Lance waited for her to expand on that. She didn’t. She just continued polishing the metal. He could of sworn she looked kinda, sorta, minutely bummed at the moment. He didn’t think he had the power to upset a Blade member. He’d clearly said something quite wrong.  
  
  
“ Well…We’re still like, friends, y’know?”  
  
  
“But you don’t like his company?”  
_  
  
“_ Well, no. I mean _yes._ What I mean is _;_ we might not always get along, but Keith is a pretty cool guy. We have a thing…Like, he’s short tempered and angsty and I’m…Not…”  
  
  
Krolia looked at him patiently; waiting for him to start making sense.  
  
  
Lance suppressed a frustrated huff. He was too tired for this. “ yes, he’s my _friend._ I ‘like’ him.”  
  
  
To Lance’s relief, Krolia smiled. “That’s good to hear. I think Keith would be very disheartened to think that you did not. He’s fond of you.” She delivered the line as directly as one would a mission statement.  
  
  
Lance opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, not really knowing how to parse that statement, let alone respond to it.  
  
  
“Ok” He coughed.  
  
  
_Smooth, Lance._  
  
  
There was a stretch of uncomfortable silence. At least, Lance found it uncomfortable. Krolia appeared perfectly unfazed. He must have been demonstrating some kind of anxious tick while he leant against the stone, because after a while she spoke.  
  
  
“ Is there something I can do for you, Lance? You seem troubled.”She was looking at him again. He didn’t find her eyes so scary any more. They were nice eyes. Intense, but nice.  
  
  
Lance mulled it over. Off the bat there were about five thousand questions he wanted to ask her; nearly all of which were either far too personal or straight up rude. He wasn't completely up to date on galra etiquette but he was pretty sure asking “why isn’t your son purple?” was a no-go. He stuck with a safer enquiry.  


  
“ Do you know where Keith is?”  
  
  
“ I know where he went,” She inclined her head to her left, towards the tree line at the edge of the clearing they were in “he left to take a walk.”  
  
  
Lance nodded. “was he…Ok?”  
  
  
She didn’t answer right away, which he found pretty alarming.Instead, she fixed him with a look that deviated ever so slightly from her neutral facade. If it was meant to be a meaningful expression it was certainly beyond his human facial cue lexicon. Regardless, he tried to look like he was listening sincerely.  


  
“I think so, yes.” Lance could see her thumb beneath the polishing cloth; running pensively up and down the end of her index finger. “The recent events have been very difficult for him. There is still much he needs to process. But he is resilient; I have no doubt he will be ‘ok’.”

  
Lance was satisfied with that answer. It was more words than he'd expected to get out of her. His satisfaction was upgraded to ‘surprise’ when, just as he was about to respond, Krolia continued talking.  
  
  
“ You should go and talk to him. I think he needs some company right now, even if he doesn't want it.” She gestured to the riverside on her left. “ If you follow near the riverside you will find him. He won’t have gone far; he hasn't eaten yet.”  
  
  
Lance blinked. “Ok, thanks. I’ll, uh, do that then.” Well damn, that was easy. Lance pushed himself off the stone surface and wriggled his toes in an attempt to get rid of the chill that had seeped into them. He was about to recite a parting ‘thank you’ when something occurred to him.

  
“what’s wrong with your company?”  
  
  
Krolia looked at him with yet another indeterminately subtle expression. Though, this one looked a tad more melancholy than the last. “ He’s been stuck with me for long enough. I think he would prefer someone else.”

  
Ah. Right. The whole ‘messed up time schism’ thing. He was still pretty fuzzy on that. Lance nodded in acknowledgement of her point.  
  
  
“And like I said, he is fond of _you_.”

  
Lance jerked his head up fast enough to see a a small but eerily familiar smirk on Krolia’s face before it crept back into its neutral state; her attention now drawn to the small satchel bag at her feet. It had disappeared so quickly he could have convinced himself he’d imagined it.  
  
  
He was going to convince himself he’d imagined it.  
  


The galra retrieved two small daffodil-yellow bars from the bag. She held them out to him. “When you find him, would you give one of these?You can have the other if you want. Make sure you eat it slowly.”

  
Lance took the snacks gingerly from her hand. He briefly wondered how she avoided tearing their wrapping to shreds with her claws. Empire galra seemed to refrain from unarmed brawling but he’d got in enough desperate scrapes to know how easily those suckers could pierce skin. There must have been an art to her non-stabby handling.

  
  
“Uh. Yeah, no worries. I’ll make sure he eats it.”  
  
  
“Thank you,” Krolia said, “It concerns me when he forgoes meals.”  
  
  
_aw.  
  
  
“_ For sure. You gotta eat breakfast right? S’the Most important meal of the day.”  


  
Krolia looked at him. “ Yes. Eating is always important.”  


  
Lance thought this was probably as seamless an opportunity he was going to get to gracefully excuse himself.

  
“ _Ok_ , well, I’m gonna get going now. It was nice talking to you ma- Krolia. I’ll see you…Later. I guess,”He pushed his weight off the stone and back onto his feet, taking care to keep his balance on the slippery grass. “ thanks for your help.”  
  
  
“The honour was mine, Lance. I look forward to working with you and your teammates in the future.”  
  
  
“ Yeah. Same to you.”

  
She gave him a final courteous nod; a gentle smile gracing her features. Lance mimicked the action back at her. Then she turned her attention to the array of shiny weapon constituents sitting beside her. A polite dismissal.  
  
  
Lance stuffed the bars into his belt satchel and began making his way to to lake shore. The tips of the tallest trees on the tree line were now bathed in golden light, but the innards of the approaching woodland were still a dim, pre dawn blue. He felt like he should have felt some kind of instinctual intimidation at the sight, but he couldn’t muster up the energy the host such concerns at the moment. Regardless, he thought he’d stick close to the sand bank as he walked. He didn’t much feel like getting lost.  
  
  
As his feet once again sunk into the sand, he thought of possible conversation topics for when he saw Keith. At this point no topic really seemed ‘safe’. He felt more distant from The man than he ever had. He showed upall older and cooler and savvy and now Lance just felt…irrelevant. Like there was some big secret that everyone was in on except him. Like he was, once again, falling behind Keith in every possible way.  
  
  
It used to make him furious. Now it just made him sad.  
  
  
He huffed and kicked absently at the shallow water lapping around his toes, watching as sprayed prettily in the air. He knew it wasn't fair to be this petty but he was going to allow himself a short isolated sulk, Just to get it out of his system.  
  
  
Absently, he pulled on of the bars out of his satchel, tore it open and took a small bite. It had barely hit his tongue before he involuntarily and violently spat it back out; coughing and gagging as he reeled from the assault it had landed on him.  
  
  
“What the _hell ?!”_ Lance’s shrill voice corrupted the pristine morning ambience. The taste was incomprehensible. It was like someone had specifically set out to make the most unnaturally offensiveconcoction of bitterness, saltiness and saccharine sweetness they could devise. He scrutinised the wrapper. The styled galra script meant nothing to him. All he could parse was the cute cartoon of a smiling galra child set against the yellow background, mocking him.  


  
Lance glared at the image before stuffing it back in his satchel; immensely thankful that he still had some sticks of gum in there. Did the galra honestly feed their children that garbage? That would actually explain a lot. He stuffed three sticks of gum in his mouth for good measure.

  
As he chewed resentfully, he noticed he was approaching a small fork in the river leading off to to right.  
  
  
He also noticed Keith’s armour-his chest plates, boots, shoulder and leg guards- all piled up on a tuft of grass near the bank, in front of a tree.  
  
  
It seemed Krolia was pretty spot on with her prediction. He could almost forgive her for nearly poisoning him.

  
Lance took a deep breath, trying to convince himself he wasn’t feeling a little nervous (because that would be dumb and unnecessary and he wouldn’t give Keith the satisfaction) and failing terribly. Because he was a wreck. And now to cap everything off the gum was reminding him that he was hungry.

  
Through the branches overhead sunlight assaulted his eyes; the dawn choosing this choice moment to exacerbate his annoyance.the angled bank ahead of him was lit up a dazzling silver; its expanse obscured by the trees that still shaded him.  
  
  
The hell with it, Lance thought. He’d come all this way to see Keith. He’d even braved his objectively much scarier mother. He didn't care how much of a bitchy mood the returning paladin was in. Keith “didn’t necessarily want to see anyone?” Tough cookies. Lance was more than used to being an unwanted presence at this point and he’d be damned if he wasn't seeing this through.  
  
  
In his newfound haste, he marched towards the tree; several witty greeting lines at the tip of his tongue. He was so wound up that he neglected to notice Keith’s body suit lying alongside the rest of the armour.  
  
  
And then Lance passed the obstruction of the tree and the witticisms on his tongue vanished.  
  
  
There was Keith. Standing in nothing but a towel around his waist, body glistening in the new light, hand frozen in his dripping wet hair as his eyes fixed on Lance. The dark violet of his irises was somehow more intense than the raw burn scar reaching up his face.  
  
  
He looked like a figure from a goddamn renaissance painting. Fresh from some grand quest to defeat a supernatural evil. Which, to his credit, was exactly what had happened.  
  
  
Lance made a conscious effort to snap his jaw shut when he felt his chewing gum was about to fall out. As Keith withdrew his hand from his hair he somehow noticed the stray water droplets clinging to his eyelashes. Which trembled delicately as the older man’s brow furrowed in confusion.  
  
  
“Lance?”  
  



	2. Dawn Chorus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds himself both dazzled and infuriated by Keith.
> 
> He wishes he could blame the older paladin for bringing out the worst in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this up tonight so now I am splitting this fic into 3 chapters!
> 
> This one is a little shorter but a lot more intense.
> 
> Lance and Keith both have a lot of emotions to work through, who can blame them?

Strictly speaking, Lance fantasised about Keith a lot.  
  
  
Formatively that fantasy was composed of scenarios in which he would be cooler and more charming and a better pilot than Keith. Where he had a perfect witty response to every insult Keith could possibly dish out and where he always, _always_ won whatever dumb argument they were having.  
  
  
As time went on Lance was forced to concede that _maybe_ he wasn’t as straight as he thought he was and _maybe_ Keith was just a tiny bit gorgeous and _maybe_ he had a little bit of a crush on him. But by this point he’d already crafted such a beast of an antagonism toward the other man that he’d think it a shameful defeat to admit it.  
  
  
And then there were the fantasies he never acknowledged. The ones that came unbidden and left him feeling very conflicted. The ones that usually started out and awful lot like the scene before him.  
  
  
He wasn’t usually wearing the towel in those, though.  
  
  
“…Lance?”  
  
  
It took Lance a moment to realise Keith had said his name again. Sharper this time. Impatient.  
  
  
Lance really _wanted_ to reply but he was dumbstruck and mute watching a water droplet’s journey across Keith’s left pectoral. Valiantly, he managed to rope his intellect together long enough to respond.  
  
  
“ Hi Keith!”  
  
  
Keith visibly flinched. He was clearly not expecting Lance’s response to be that loud and high-pitched. That made two of them. Lance felt the blood roaring in his ears. It was like a thousand hoarse voices booing him.  
  
  
He resisted the urge to hide his face in his hands; instead covering it with an agonised fake smile. God, what was _wrong_ with him? He’d seen Keith wet and shirtless before. And while he’d always appreciated the view it had never made him act this stupid.  


  
Though, in lance’s defence, there was a lot more _of_ Keith to appreciate now.  


  
The man in question casually-perhaps defensively, if mind reading was something else he’d picked up on his travels- tightened the towel above his hips. “Uh…Hey. What are you doing out here?” His tone was not accusatory. In fact, it sounded a little tentative. His eyes darted around the small bank clearing, probably searching for the person who had surely dragged Lance out here.  
  
  
“Well…I was…”  
  
  
Lance willed himself not to panic as it dawned on him he had absolutely no idea _why_ he was out here by himself to see Keith.  
  
  
“I was…”  
  
  
He cycled through his bank of possible responses. He could feign ignorance; say he just went for a walk and happened across him by a stroke of bad luck. That would be sure to ignite a decent bicker between them. Keith might even get so angry he’d put is clothes and armour back on just to fight him. Problem solved.  
  
  
Or He could just make up something about checking up on him because the others bugged him to. That they were all so worried about him and it was getting annoying so he came to check on him himself. That wouldn’t cause a fight but it would give him an out to just walk away no questions asked.  


  
O _r_ he could tell him he was only here because Krolia asked him to bring him these godawful snacks. Though, that could raise issues if Keith were to go back and cross reference with his mother later…  
  
  
“Lance, are you ok?”  
  
  
Lance snapped his attention back to Keith. It wasn’t so much the question itself that shocked him, but the fact thatit was asked in a voice that _wasn’t_ dripping with sarcasm. Like Keith was genuinely concerned or something. Sure enough, his expression was a lot more tender than Lance was prepared for. It as somewhere between confusion and pity.

   
Lance found himself completely disarmed. He honestly hadn’t prepared for this scenario. The partial nudity he probably could have survived but _this?_  
  
  
This was scary.  
  
  
Lance swallowed. He looked at Keith. R _eally_ looked at him. Despite obviously having bathed in the river, he was still a complete mess. He looked tired, unsurprisingly- absolutely drained. His left eye had a halo of dark bruising, which trailed down his cheek. His body was a constellation of bruises, cuts and what looked like small burns that his armour was apparently unable to protect him from. They were fresh; their deep red and purple palettes contrasting with the tamer, paler pink of the scar he had received much earlier from his marmora trials.  
  
  
Shiro. Shiro had done this to him.At least, a man who had looked, sounded and acted exactly like Shiro. He’d wager that fact was doing a much greater number on Keith’s current state than any of the physical blows.  
  
  
“You’re looking pretty beat.”  
  
  
Lance stared at him. The words had dropped in his mind like a pebble in still water; radiating waves of incredulity across his thoughts.  
  
  
“ I look pretty beat?” He said slowly.  
  
  
“ Yeah” Keith confirmed.  
  
  
“ _I_ look pretty beat?” Lance could _feel_ the proverbial screws in his head coming loose.  
  
  
Keith looked at him oddly. He gave a cautious nod.

  
Oh. Keith thought he was being weird.  
  
  
The man who had spent the entirety of their space adventures as a berserker andhalf-human punching bag. The man kept disappearing and reappearing with new scars and baggage every time. The man who was-not 48 hours ago- pitted against his mentor and brother in scheme devised by an Altean witch. The man who had aged two years in about two weeks. The man who's alien mother was sitting at the foot of the black lionabout 300 metres away, pissed off because her son was allegedly bypassing breakfast.  
  
  
This man had the audacity to look at him like _he_ was crazy. 

   
Like _he_ was the one that needed pity.  
  
  
Lance didn’t help deter this impression when he suddenly launched into a fit of hysterical laughter.  
  
  
He tried to restrain himself, but the hoarse croaks rattling out of him wouldn’t be quelled.  
It was all just so _ridiculous_. He leant weakly against the tree beside him, struggling to hold up his own weight under the stress of his outburst.  
  
  
Keith, he realised through his rapidly forming tears, was looking terribly confused. And a little worried.  
  
  
Maybe very worried.  
  
  
Lance’s laughter was getting weaker. It was surprisingly difficult to continue given his wearied state. He tried to cut the fit off more earnestly when the laughter started sounding suspiciously like sobs. After pulling in a few more ragged breaths (and accidentallyswallowing his gum in the process), he managed to obtain some semblance of autonomy.  
  
  
At about this time, Keith found his voice again.  
  
  
“ Lance what the _hell_ is going on? Are you…Shit man do you need-“  
  
  
“ Nope. Nu-uh.”Lance thrust his hand up in front of him in a stop motion, pulling his weight back onto his still-quivering legs. “ You don’t get to do this Keith. Not after everything that’s gone down. I am NOT having it.” Lance chucked his boots at the base of the tree with far more force than necessary.  
  
  
To hell with it; He’d had to sit through enough of Keith’s temper tantrums. He was gonna indulge in his own for once, if Keith himself was going to be all _civil_ about it.  
  
  
“ ‘Do’ what? What are you talking about?” Keith still seemed genuinely baffled, but there was a slight edge of defensiveness in his tone and his arms were held tense by his sides. Good.  
  
  
Whatever half-assed coverup Keith was trying to pull here. Lance would tear it down. Keith might be prepared to pretend the last few months- hell, _days_ \- were no big deal, but he wasn’t.  
  
  
He deliberately swaggered over to him, arms flung open. A not-so-subtle taunt. Keith visibly bristled at his body language alone.  
  
  
“so,” he started “ you think you can just show up like-“ he made a pronounced vague gesture in the direction of the older man “- _this_ and act like everything is fine and dandy?”  
  
  
Keith gave him a hard look. A distinctly ‘step off Lance, you should know better than this’ look.  
  
  
“ I mean don’t get me wrong; you kicked ass against Lotor. Great stuff. But you can drop this game right now because it’s getting ridiculous.” Lance had stopped a few feet in front of him. He was close enough to confirm that Keith was indeed now slightly taller than him, but not close enough to touch him. Both of these facts just served to make him more irritable.  
  
  
Keith looked like he was trying very hard to keep his composure. His furrowed brow was causing his bruised left eye to squint almost entirely shut in pain. Lance felt his bravado waver at the sight, but remained steadfast. This was a matter of justice. Or something.  
  
  
“ Did you just come out here to pick a fight with me? Is that it?” He flung an arm out in exasperation “Because I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about right now.”  
  
  
A very familiar aggression was seeping into Keith’s tone. _Now_ Lance was getting somewhere. He could handle ‘angry’ Keith. It was familiar. Safe.  
  
  
“ Come on Keith I’m not _that_ stupid” he delivered the line in a deadpan while staring into Keith’s gorgeous eyes.  
  
  
_Focus._  
  
  
Keith’s steely glare did not waver “ Well I guess _I_ am, because I’m at a loss”  
  
  
“What, you want me to spell it out for you?” Lance upped the ante by sauntering just a few steps closer. The last time he had been this close to him was…

  
  
God, it had been when had all hugged him goodbye.  
  
  
Months ago. Years from Keith’s perspective.  
  
  
And _this_ was the culmination of their time apart.  
  
  
He planted his foot in the damp sand. “Hell, why not? We have ‘ _time’_ for this now, right _?”  
  
  
_ Keith searched his expression in response to his tone. Lance could see the exact moment he realised what he was referring to.  
  
  
“ Is _that_ what this is about? That I didn’t pay attention to you when I got back to the castle?!” Keith sounded incredulous; his voice imbued with bitter laughter “Well excuse me for not prioritising your insatiable ego over uncovering Lotor’s genocide scheme, _Lance.”  
  
  
_ The younger paladin bristled. He didn’t know why, but the fact Keith completely missed the point needled at him in a very particular way.  
  
  
It hurt. A lot.  
  
  
So Keith wanted to make this personal?  
  
  
He was game.  
  
  
“ Ego? You wanna talk about _ego M_ r _.‘_ I’m going to abandon my team members and go on my own journey of self-discovery’?”  
  
  
Keith narrowed his eyes.  
  
  
“ I mean it’s not like we needed you there to be a paladin or anything.” Lance paused for theatric effect “Oh wait. We did!”  
  
  
“ Lance,” Keith was looking at him dangerously. he felt a chill despite the warm dawn rays against his skin “shut up. Now.”  
  
  
It was good advice. Lance didn’t take it. There was something building in his chest now; something heavy and writhing. Something that wanted _out_.  
  


“ Good thing Shiro was there to bale you out again, right?”  
  
  
He saw a flash of hurt in Keith’s eyes. That was a bad subject to bring up at the best of times but now it was just cruel. He knew this, but felt numb with a foreign rage. Possessed by it.  
  
  
This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen.  
  
  
“You don’t get to talk about that sort of stuff. Keith was all but snarling at him at this point. “You don’t know anything about me!”  
  
  
“Maybe I would if you ever talked to anyone other than Shiro!” Lance met Keith’s glare with his own “Face it Keith, you never really cared about any of us. You couldn’t _wait_ to get rid of us because we’re just _not good enough_ for you. We’re all just holding you back from your ‘personal best’.” He swallowed before continuing, trying to pretend the thing working his way up his throat wasn’t a sob “Hell, I bet if it weren't for Shiro being here you’d be out there again right now doing something ridiculously dangerous with some shady galra agents.”  
  
  
Lance could feel his jaw trembling. He was hearing his own scathing voice as though it was coming from someone else. Some sad and hateful parody of himself hell bent on sabotaging any hope he had of maintaining Keith’s friendship.  
  
  
_shut up. Just shut your mouth for once.  
  
  
“ _ That’s not true. You know none of that is true _”_ there was a slight falter in Keith’s voice. Just the smallest of tremors, but enough for Lance to know he’d struck something severe.  
  
  
_Don’t do this. You’re hurting him. He’s going to hate you._  
  
  
“ Why would I know, Keith? I mean you’re right; I don’t know anything about you.”  
  
_  
_ Keith threw his arms out, as if in supplication. When he spoke there was a genuine note of pleading in his voice.  
  
  
“Then what do you want me to do Lance?! I’m trying to be a good leader. I’m trying to help. I’m _trying_ and I don’t fucking know what more you want from me!”  
  
  
“ I want my friend back!”  
  
  
The exclamation tore from Lance’s throat in the form of a pathetic, rasping sob.  
  
  
And with it ringing across the still lake, he released that he _did_ know exactly why he was out her alone talking to Keith.  


 

Because he missed him.  
  
  
He missed him _so_ much and he was so _sad_ and so _angry_ and too damn stupid to tell the difference.  
  
  
The quiet stretched on. The only sound was the ambient lapping of the lake shore and their own laboured breathing. Lance wasn’t brave enough to look Keith in the eye.  
  
  
“ I wanted you to come back, Keith. We all did. In all that time you were gone you didn’t once check in. You didn't call or visit or _anything,”_ Lance hissed out the last word; nerves still raw “you could have just died out there and we probably wouldn’t even have known. Not until random blade member sent usmessage or something.”He paused to take a shuddering breath “And now you just show up older and _different_ and _covered_ in injuriesand act like everything is fine.”  
  
  
“ Lance, I-”  
  
  
“It’s not fine. I don’t care how much you’ve convinced yourself it is. This isn’t fair anymore. Not on us and definitely not on you”  
  
  
As he spoke he could feel the tension slowly draining out of him. It was like he’d just removed a thorn that had been festering under his skin for months. The pain was still there but it was a clean pain; something familiar and manageable.  


.  
“ Please don’t do this to yourself anymore.”  
  
  
The plea hung between them like a peace offering.  


  
There was another stretch of silence between them.  


   
“Lance?”  
  
  
Lance grunted in acknowledgement, looking at his own feet.  
  
  
Keith sighed “ Lance can you look at me. Please?”  
  
  
Lance felt his cheeks burn. He was rapidly becoming hyper-aware of his physical surroundings. In particular the person standing one foot in front of him who he had just spilled his emotional guts to.  
  
  
“No. Why?” He mentally cringed. Why was it always his first instinct around Keith to say something combative?  
  
  
“ Because,” Keith began with forced patience “ I have something important to say and I want to say it to your face, not your hair.”  
  
  
Lance took a sharp breath in through his nose and, scraping up what little he had left of his dignity, snapped his head up to look at Keith.  
  
  
-Who was wearing one of the most vulnerable expressions he'd ever seen. The tender, almost flighty look in his eyes was amusingly at odds with his hardened, battle scarred body.  
  
  
“ I’m not leaving. I promise.”  
  
  
It wasn’t said in a searching or apologetic manner. It was a simple statement of fact.  
  
  
And before he could find some way to ruin the sincerity of the moment with his dumb mouth (because he definitely would have, left to his own devices), Keith had pulled him into a crushing hug.  
  
  
Without thinking, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith; because it was honestly all he’d wanted to do since he saw him in this clearing.  
  
  
Before he said all those _awful_ things to him.  
  
  
“God, Keith…I’m _so_ \- I didn’t mean any of that stuff I said. I know you’re not like that, I-” The older paladin squeezed him just a tiny bit tighter. “I’m so sorry.”  
  
  
“It’s ok.”  
  
  
“ It’s _not_ ok,” Lance hated the way his voice hitched when he was upset “ I know you’re trying your best. I know you didn’t want any of this to happen,” he paused to wipe his nose on his own clothed arm “I knew that and I still said all…all of that… _jesus_ , I-”  
  
  
“ Cut it out, Lance. I’ve been a piece of shit and I know it.” Lance could feel the vibration of Keith’s voice through the fabric of his own body suit. From where his head was perched on his shoulder, Keith’s hair tickled his cheek. “ I’ve had two years to regret how I treated you guys before I left. I don’t blame you for being mad.”  
  
  
Lance didn’t really know how to respond to that statement. ‘Reasonable Keith’ was just too…Reasonable. “God, I’m such an ass ” he settled on.  
  
  
“I know. But so am I. I appreciate your apology”  
  
  
Adrenaline from his outburst having completely left him, Lance took this opportunity to indulge in the embrace as his heart slowed to its resting rate. Keith was so blessedly nice to hold on to. He hated that he he seemed to always be watching him leave. He hated that he’d never tried this before.  
  
  
“…You’re a good person, Keith.”  
  
  
Keith stayed silent for a moment, then ever-so-slightly pressed the side of his head against Lance’s, causing the latter’s poor, over worked heart to once again pick up its pace “thanks. So are you.”  
  
  
Sentiments aside, it suddenly occurred to Lance that he was in a cozy embrace with his near-naked crush/ new team leader. Who’s warm, soft skin smelled like a concoction of clean water mixed with the minty tang of the atmosphere. And who’s arms had him pressed possessively and unapologetically against his very hard and very bare chest.  
  
  
As if cued by Lance’s sudden onset of anxiousness, Keith gave him one last bodily squeeze and released him. The shorter man begrudgingly let him go; both relieved and petulantly upsetby the action. His disappointment was quickly replaced with satisfaction when he noticed that Keith’s face was painted with a distinct flush, as he was sure his own was.  
  
  
As least they both looked like emotionally inept dorks right now.  
  
  
Lance was again flawed when a shy but determined grin crept onto Keith’s face.  
  
  
“ You know,” he said easily “ you don’t have to pick a fight _every_ time you want to talk to me.”  
  
  
“ I didn’t-!” Lance cut his involuntary defensive dialogue short when he realised that was exactly what he had done. “I can talk to you without arguing” he said in a forcibly amiable tone.  
  
  
Keith smirked. Yup. Definitely saw that on Krolia’s face earlier.  
  
  
“No you can’t.”  
  
  
“ YES, I can.”  
  
  
Keith hummed in doubt “ I don’t think you can.”  
  
  
“ yes I-” Lance recognised the Catch-22 situation happening here.  
  
  
_Oh, come on Keith, really?_  
  
  
He was trying very hard not to smile at Keith’s borderline childish taunting. The way the other man’s eyes were crinkling at the corners was making it very difficult.  
  
  
“Screw you, Keith.” He said, defeated.  
  
  
Keith’s smirk grew. He leaned in a touch closer; pinning him with a mirthful stare “ Whoa, Lance. Moving a bit fast there, aren’t you?”  
  
  
Lance gaped at him. He didn’t know what was more shocking; that Keith actually stooped to that level of unoriginal humour or that he had just said that to him in a voice that was far, _far_ more flirtatious than anything he had ever thought the man capable of.  
  
  
Before Lance could gather his senses to respond, Keith was striding past him; back the way he himself had entered the clearing. Belatedly, he turned his head to watch him.  
  
  
“where are you going?”  
  
  
Keith was standing over his discarded clothing. “ Nowhere. I’m putting my clothes back on.” He looked back and fixed him with another far-too-happy grin “you going to turn around or what?”  
  
  
Lance opened his mouth and let out a few pathetic, stilted vowels. He then twisted eye line back to the sand in front of him; glaring as his face burned.  
  
  
He heard the sound of moving fabric. “You’re such a gentleman.” Keith said behind him, moments before his head was pitched forward with the force of a soft projectile.  
  
  
Lance swiped Keith’s towel off of his head and threw it on the ground, finding it hard to be too scandalised when he heard Keith chuckling softly behind him.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of part 2 of 3!
> 
> Let me know what you think :^)
> 
> I sure do love flirtatious Keith.
> 
> More soft feelings ahoy in chapter 3.


	3. equalibrium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance have very different relationships with words.
> 
> Between the two of them, they hope to make some sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter!
> 
> Sorry this was a bit delayed. Had some life stuff to do :')
> 
> I'm gonna be honest they just talk about there feelings for a while. But sometimes thats just how it's gotta be.
> 
> (also more flirting because I love flirty Keith)

So how’s Shiro?  
  
  
Keith, now fully dressed in his black paladin suit, gave him a small smile. He was sitting next to him on the sand; both of them making the most of the sun as its warmth seeped into their surroundings.  
  
  
“He’s ok. The med-pod we brought him in is keeping him under and surveying his injuries. It’s not as good as the cryopods: He’s going to have to heal mostly on his own” Keith stared out at the lake in front of them “for now all his vital signs are stable, though.”  
  
  
“Do you think he’ll be up any time soon?” It wasn’t that Lance didn’t trust Allura’s magic or medical equipment; his mind would just feel a lot more at ease once Shiro was out and about again.  
  
  
“ Hopefully, yeah. Even then, I don’t plan on rushing anything. I think he’s earned a proper rest.”  
  
  
“ Yeah, definitely.” Lance looked over at Keith; noticing the faraway look on his face “are _you_ doing ok, man?”  
  
  
Keith didn’t respond immediately. He absently brought a his hand up to the bruising on his cheek, as if recalling the impact. “ I think so. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to feel right now, y’know? Everything is…” He trailed off, seeming to have difficulty finding the right word.  
  
  
“Different?” Lance supplied  
  
  
Keith breathed out a soft laugh. Lance melted a little inside. “yeah, I guess that’s the best way to put it.” He dropped his hand into the gritty sand beside him, tracing his fingers through it idly “ I feel like I should be used to it by now, but this time with Shiro and the castle and the rift, I-”  
  
  
Lance stayed silent; prompting him to finish the thought on his own.  
  
  
“ I can’t deal with it. Not in the same way I have before. It’s not _working_ ” A tinge of tired frustration seeped into his tone.  
  
  
In that moment Lance felt an odd sense of pride in Keith. He was actually using words at a reasonable volume to describe his problems. And with _him_ , of all people. He tried not to let the warm fluttering in his chest distract him from the situation at hand.  
  
  
“Well that’s okay. No one expects you to just be fine with everything that happened,” he made an effort to keep his voice light and even “you may not have noticed but even I haven’t been feeling in top form lately” screw it; if referencing his own humiliating breakdown would make Keith feel better about himself then he’d do just that. It wasn’t like he was going to magically forget either way.  


 

Unfortunately, he didn’t take the bait. He just glared at some invisible annoyance before him. Lance tried a different tac. “Keith, whatever you’re feeling- or _not_ feeling- is okay. You’re not being timed here. I know that you’re struggling just like the rest of us- probably more so. Just give it time and it’ll come into place.”  
  
  
Keith sighed next to him. Lance prepared for the oncoming argument; thinking of the best way to neutralise any more emotional outbursts.  
  
  
“You’re right.”  
  
  
Lance peered at him out the corner of his eye “beg your pardon?”  
  
  
“I said you’re right.”  
  
  
“Oh. Thanks” Lance honestly didn’t think it’d be that easy.  
  
  
Keith evidently caught onto his thought pattern. He grinned at him “ What? Sometimes you give good advice.”  
  
  
“I mean I know _that_. I’m just not used to you taking it.”  
  
  
“Well maybe I’ll try to more often,” Keith said airily “ I mean, you’re back as my second in command now. Gotta have _some_ faith in you don’t I?”  
  
  
Lance snorted“You don’t command me, mullet; I’m a free lion” he gave Keith a look of mock-pity “but if you’re really _that_ helpless without me then I guess I’ll just have to stick around.”  
  
  
“I appreciate it.”  
  
  
The fact that Keith didn’t say that in a sarcastic tone made him wince. “ Man, you’re not supposed to just _agree_ with me.”  
  
  
“why not?”  
  
  
“Because it’s-” Lance struggled for a response that didn’t sound completely childish. He dodged Keith’s bemused gaze, which was rapidly causing his cheeks to burn.  
  
  
“ -different?” Keith drawled. Lance could _hear_ the grin in his voice.  
  
  
Lance halfheartedly threw a handful of sand at him, though he couldn’t quite keep a grin from creeping up his face.  
  
  
“Smart ass.”  
  
  
They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Lance always thought it would be weird to just ‘hang out’ with Keith.His intense demeanour tended to make him feel like there had to be some kind of important pretence for any interaction they had. He was finding now that it was actually surprisingly pleasant. The older paladin was taciturn, sure, but not cold or distant like he’d so often projected onto him. He was just a little more… _Subtle_ than the other paladins.  
  
  
He felt a pang of regret in not trying to figure this out earlier. He’d wasted so much time and _effort_ in setting himself up against him. All the while he could have just been-  
  
  
Well, friends.   
  


At _least_.  
  
  
“So I’m guessing that you’re mum was sticking with the Black Lion to keep an eye on Shiro?”  
  
  
Keith flicked his gaze over to Lance quizzically. He realised then that, in all the chaos, he hadn’t actually told Keith about his encounter with her.  
  
  
“Oh yeah! I talked to your mum, by the way.”  
  
  
“…Yeah?” A cautious look passed over Keith’s face for a moment. Lance wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret it.  
  
  
“ She seemed nice?” He offered.  
  
  
He was subject to a probing stare for a few seconds before Keith responded in a distracted tone “yeah. Yeah she is,” his brow furrowed “why were you talking to her?”  
  
  
If the question had come from anyone but Keith, Lance would have felt defensive. Luckily, he was used to Keith’s innate bluntness at this point. “No one else seemed to know where you were, so I figured she was the best bet. She told me you’d be out here.”  
  
  
“You were looking for me?” He asked; like genuinely hadn’t occurred to him that he would do that.  
  
  
“Well no offence Keith but last time I saw you you looked ready to drop dead on the spot. Sue me for wanting to make sure that you hadn’t.” Lance dropped his gaze to his feet stretched out before him “ She said you were having a rough time- that you shouldn’t be alone.”  
  
  
“She wasexaggerating. I’m f-”  
  
  
“don’t you dare say ‘fine’. That word is _banned_ for you today.”  
  
  
Keith begrudgingly kept his mouth shut.  
  
  
“She’s worried about you. Thats normal. Hell, I think her restraint is pretty admirable. Poor woman probably goes through a near heart attack every time she has to watch you pull some death-defying stunt. Which you do _often_ , by the way” Lance shot him an accusatory look, but Keith was avoiding his eyes. In the absence of a response, he continued. “I mean it’s hard enough for me- for _us_ \- to watch you put yourself in danger. I can’t imagine what it must be like for you _mother-”_  
  


“ _Krolia_ ,” Keith emphasised “knows I can take care of myself. And so do you. There’s no point in worrying.”  
  
  
Keith wasn’t always a master of subtext, but the ‘drop the mother interrogation’ message there was pretty hard to miss. Lance did him the curtesy of respecting it.  
  
  
“ Look, I know you can fight your own battles, man” he kept his gaze cautiously reprimanding “but the price of having people care about you is that you never, ever hear the end of it when you get yourself hurt. And I promise you thats not gonna change, so get used to it.”  
  
  
Keith huffed beside him, brow furrowed but no real heat behind his gaze “fine-”  
  
  
Lance’s sharpened his glare.  
  
  
“ _Okay”_ Keith offered dryly, failing to fully hide the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.  
  
  
“See? Much better.”  
  
  
While Keith muttered under his breath about word context Lance remembered what else he had been tasked with. He dug into his pocket and fished out the small rectangular object.  
  
  
“ Also, Krolia told me to give you this.” Lance held the brightly coloured alien snack out in front of him “heads up: it’s disgusting.”  
  
  
Keith looked at the bar and gave a defeated sigh; taking it from Lance’s open palm. Much to his horror, he then tore it open and actually took a bite out of it, proceeding to chew it as if it were s as inoffensive as an oatmeal biscuit.  
  
  
Lance gaped at him “how are you _doing_ that?”  
  
  
“what?” he said around a mouthful of whatever the hell that thing as made of.  
  
  
“I tried to eat one and it almost killed me.”  
  
  
Keith swallowed, looking at the remaining bar thoughtfully “well they’re not really made for human consumption. I guess galra have different tastes. I think they’re pretty nice”  
  
  
Lance was a little surprised at the ease with which he talked about being half alien. Before he left the team it’d still been a very taboo subject for him. It was a step forward, to say the least.  
  
  
Keith turned the wrapper over in his hand, looking at it distastefully “they kept giving me these back at the Blade HQ. _Only_ me. It took me a while to figure out why” he gave Lance a rueful smile, flipping the torn label of the bar to face him “you know what they are?”  
  
  
Lance shook his head no.  
  
  
“nutrient supplements for clinically underweight and ailing galra children” Keith relayed “they think I’ma runt, basically.” he swallowed the last of the mouthful “I asked Krolia about it a few times, but she just got really defensive- said they were talking shit and there's ' _nothing wrong with me_ '. I’m not kidding myself, though."  
  
  
Lance didn’t really know how to respond to that. He knew Keith was considerably smaller than the average galra (even half-galra, going by the few specimens he had seen) but he found the insinuation that he was somehow defective because of this pretty uncomfortable.  
  
  
“Sorry, man. That’s really Messed up.”  
  
  
“They’re not _wrong,_ though. You know I never once beat any of them in a sparring match? Not even one of the newer recruits. Every time I was too slow or unfocused or weak” he took another bite of the bar “I’m not built the same way they are. That’s just the way it is.”  
  
  
Lance wondered just how many times Keith had hit the ground bruised and bleeding on the Marmora training room floor for him to sound so defeated.  
  
  
“ You’re not being fair to yourself, Keith. Some of those guys are like, millennia old right? Of course you’re not going to be on their level. Cut yourself some slack” Lance leant a touch closer to the other man “if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think I’de get very far against any of them either. I could probably land a few good hits, though; maybe break a couple bones if they looked at me funny…” Lance trailed off casually.  
  
  
Keith snorted next to him “more of a lover than a fighter, huh?”  
  
  
“Love is the _real_ battlefield, Keith.” Lance replied heavily.  
  
  
“Pretty sure it’s not, though.”  
  
  
“Look, I’m trying to make you feel better, jerk. What do you want me to do, tell you how big, muscular and handsome you are?”  
  
  
“ I won’t stop you if you’re offering.” Keith looked at him blankly; biting down the last of the snack with conviction.  
  
  
Lance met him with a challenging stare. He shifted so that he was slouched easily on with his weight on his left hand; his other hand trapped between them; circling with theatric coyness in the sand.  
  
  
“Oh _Keith_ ,” he began in a ridiculous high pitched warble “ You’re so manly and strong. Surely you would have no problem defeating those horrible, mean, comparatively unattractive galra agents.”  
  
  
Keith gave a him a bemused look,“Why would you put on a woman’s voice if you were trying to flirt with me?”  
  
  
_Oh yeah…  
_  
  
Lance cleared his throat, attempting to pitch it down to a deeper timbre.  
  
  
“Oh, your normal voice will do just fine” he said.  
  
  
Lance’s hand stopped its circular trail in the sand. Suddenly he didn’t think this was such a great idea on his part.  
  
  
He was flirting with Keith. And Keith was flirting back.  
  
  
And Lance was _losing_.  
  
  
“I’m waiting, Lance.” There was a chaotic mirth lacing his tone. Lance didn’t like it one bit.  
  
  
There was something inside him that was deeply scandalised by this whole scenario. Keith; his team leader, ex-rival, covert crush and a general cool, mysterious, competent guy was sitting cozily close to him watching a lake twinkle in the dawn light; flirting brazenly with him whilst doing it.  
  
  
And despite himself and his expansive archives of charm and wit, he wasn’t really sure what to _do_. He genuinely never believed this would happen. He never even thought it would be within the realms of possibility which, for someone who was whisked away onto the frontline of an interstellar war, was saying a lot.  
  
  
There was no precedent here. No clear outcome. He felt like a newborn deer about to have all four of its blessed, shaky little legs swiped out from beneath it.  
  
  
-But _damn_ if he didn’t want to feel the rush of that fall.  
  
  
Emboldened, he met Keith’s gaze “Well gee, Keith,” he leant his weight back on both his arms “maybe if you’re that smooth you should just try to _seduce_ the other Blades into defeat.”  
  
  
Keith tilted his head thoughtfully and smiled at him. More of a leer, if he was being honest.  
  
  
“They’re not really my type.”  
  
  
Lance swallowed. He was expecting something more along the lines of“what makes you think I haven’t”. Raunchy was safe. vague and mercurial was…Not.  
  
  
“Yeah?” Lance tried to keep his voice sounding casually disinterested; hoping that Keith hadn’t inherited some weird galra super-senses that allowed him to pick up on his rapidly accelerating heartbeat. “Think you’re too good for elite space ninjas, huh?”  
  
  
“No. My tastes are just a little less extra-terrestrial, that’s all.”  
  
  
Lance tried very hard to convince himself he wasn’t turning to mush under the heady look Keith was giving him. This wasn’t the run-of-the-mill coy smile and giggle combo that he was accustom to. Like most things involving Keith, this was intense, challenging and had a distinct air of danger.  
  
  
It really wasn’t fair. Just the whole ‘flirting with guys’ thing was frightfully new to him. He didn’t expect _Keith_ of all people to be so good at this. But like hell he was going to fold. He’d never let clear out-skilling stop him from challenging the man before.  
  
  
“That’s funny,” Lance made sure to keep his eyes locked on Keith’s own as he spoke “because mine have turned out to be a little more alien than I first thought.”  
  
  
A disarmingly genuine smile stretched across Keith’s Face. “that must have been pretty awkward for you” he said softly.  
  
  
Lance legitimately believed the heat burning behind his face was going to set off his suit’s thermoregulation protocols. Regardless, there was a vulnerability to Keith’s voice that put him at ease. He shrugged; his response coming easily to him.  
  
  
“Hey, Weirder things have happened. I’ve learned to just roll with it at this point.”  
  
  
Keith hummed in agreement, a small smile gracing his features. Lance was thankful for the quiet spell they lapsed into. It gave him a moment to subdue the giddy buzzing in his head.Never before had he felt joy and trepidation in such intensely equal measures. It was disorienting.  
  
  
He was jolted out of his rambling thoughts when a warm, gentle weight settled over his supporting hand.  
  
  
“Lance?”  
  
  
Lance looked at his hand. he looked at Keith’s hand covering his hand. Finally, he looked up to see Keith gazing at him. It was a resolute stare, but the slight softness of his brow belayed a a touch of apprehension.  
  
  
“Thank you for coming out here. It helped” he said simply.  
  
  
Lance opened his mouth to say something, but his mind was fixated on the press of Keith’s calloused hand to his own. It struck him as ridiculous; not thirty minutes ago his whole body had been pressed against Keith’s near naked form and _now_ he was losing his wits?  
  
  
But there was something so much more intimate about this gesture. It was so heartbreakingly vulnerable on Keith’s part. Lance noticed the way his his thumb rested; poised just short of curling under his palm. It was like he was making it easy for Lance to tear his hand from underneath, should he be overstepping the nebulous bounds that surrounded them.  
  
  
As if Lance would even _dream_ of it.  
  
  
Instead, he mustered up his courage, shifted his palm and gently grasped Keith’s hand; giving it a light squeeze.  
  
  
“No problem. We’re a team, right?”  
  
  
Then Keith beamed - _beamed-_ at him; aggressively reminding him of how unfairly gorgeous he was.  
  


“Yeah,” he said, tired eyes dancing with some light emotion Lance could only describe as relief“always.”  
  
  
Keith reciprocated his hand squeeze, but instead of breaking off the contact, he held Lance’s hand as he stood up from his sitting position; prompting the red paladin to do the same.  
  
  
“ I think we should go back now. I should…” He looked at Lance as if he was guessing the correct ending to the sentence “I should talk to the others, shouldn’t I?”  
  
  
“Yeah, I think they’d like that.”  
  
  
Keith paused. He stared stared at him, a concoction of emotion stirring in his eyes. “I want to be a good leader, Lance. I don’t want to leave you guys behind anymore.” his free hand clenched and unclenched by his side “I want this to work.”  
  
  
_“Help me make this work”  
  
  
_ The poorly guarded plea made Lance’s heart ache. “One step at a time, man. We’ll be with you all the way.” He brought his own free hand up and placed it heavily on Keith’s shoulder, jolting the older man out of his mental retreat. “You’re not getting rid of us any time soon.”  
  
  
“Yeah,” Keith breathed “yeah, I know. Thanks.”  
  
  
Lance gave Keith’s shoulder two hearty pats, gently (and somewhat regretfully) unwinding his fingers from the other man’s own. “Okay, well why don’t you grab your stuff an we’ll make our way back. Someone’s probably got some food out now and I am _hungry_.”  
  
  
Keith turned to retrieve his belongings that remained under the tree. “ I thought you ate that food bar?”  
  
  
“Keith my body physically rejected it the moment it touched my tongue.”  
  
  
“God, does it really taste _that_ bad for you?” He snatched up his towel, discarded armour and a collection of small bottles that Lance assumed to be some kind of shampoo, shoving them back into the small knapsack he brought them in “ it’s a shame; one bar is basically a full meal. They’re super condensed or something.”  
  
  
“ I think I’ll just stick with good old fashioned food goo for now. The altaens have a much gentler palette, apparently.” Lance said airily; stomach now yearning for some of that weird, edible mush. “Oh and by the way you should actually eat properly. Krolia seemed pretty upset that you left without having breakfast. It’s a bad habit, man” Lance sighed in a condescending tone.  
  
  
Keith gave him an incredulous look, his voice pitching up in indignation “why were you even discussing my eating habits with her?”  
  
  
Lance grinned “oh, we’re basically best friends now. We talk about everything. Also she said you thought I was really cool and heroic” he lied.  
  
  
“She’s such a snitch.” Keith said in resigned disbelief.  
  
  
Lance bit his tongue at Keith’s unknowing slip. “I mean, yeah. Wasn’t that literally her job?”  
  
  
Keith paused as he slung his knapsack over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes “shit, you’re right.” Lance then realised Keith might actually take his jabs seriously.  
  
  
“Chill man, she barely said anything, I promise. She seems about as easy to get information out of as…Well as _you,_ if I’m being honest.”Lance threw him an only-half-joking pleading look “please don’t tell her I ratted her out. I know nothing about her and she scares me.”  
  
  
Keith rolled his eyes. There was a fondness to it. “I promise I wont tell on you. Now come on, let’s go.”  
  
  
As Lance made his way back to the edge of the clearing he noticed that Keith waiting for him to catch up, as opposed to starting ahead. It was a small gesture, but one that made a spring of warmth blossom in his chest.  
  
  
It was at this point that he realised he was pathetically smitten. With the man he was tasked with saving the universe with, no less. The entire concept was ridiculous and dramatic and theatric in a way that made his inner romantic swoon. He couldn’t have dreamed up a more fantasy-aligning infatuation even in the naivety of his childhood. 

 

 

(Granted, his child self had imagined a much less muscular and much more female partner, but life just threw funny little curveballs like that sometimes.)  
  
  
And though Lance realised that a real-life intergalactic war wasn't necessarily the most appropriate backdrop for a blossoming relationship, he found himself strangely at ease about it all. Whatever terrors lie in wait out there in the vastness of a shattering empire, they seem a little more defanged every time he felt Keith’s hand brush against his own. Walking, as they returned to their team, with a newfound closeness.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
In the isolated cover of the woodland, lance had felt like he and Keith could have been the only people in existence. There was no one to witness their emotional blood-letting, nor the gentle conversation that bandaged it up afterwards. They had been truly concealed from the world.  
  
  
The moment they passed the tree line that illusion was instantly shattered. Most notably by Coran’s voice booming nonsensical alien gibberish across the landscape. For some reason, the entirety of the extended team; altean and human alike, had converged outside the black lion, where Krolia had spoken to him earlier. The galra was still seated on one of the stray boulders; the only difference being she now had a huge blue wolf snoozing on her lap.  
  
  
None of them appeared to have noticed their arrival.  
  
  
“Would you look at that?.” Lance smirked at the other man “ Seems like I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know where the elusive Keith disappeared to.”  
  
  
He heard Keith sigh beside him; likely steeling himself for the barrage of attention he was sure to get “I haven’t been gone _that_ long…”  
  
  
“wait,” Lance said, suddenly realising that the sun was very much out and shining “how long was _I_ gone?”  
  
  
“ I don’t know. Maybe an hour and a half? Two hours?”  
  
  
“ _that long_?”  
  
  
Keith shrugged “we’re here for at least half a day, right? It’s fine.”  
  
  
Lance groaned “Now they’re gonna be wondering what I was doing out there with you for two _freaking’_ hours.”  
  
  
“ Just tell them we were making out.”  
  
  
Lance unwittingly let out a scandalised squeak “Keith, I can’t just say that,” He shoved the other paladin’s shoulder in reprimand “ _you_ can’t just say that.”  
  
  
“The truth isn’t really that much better.” Keith replied, clearly enjoying Lance’s reaction.  
  
  
The heat rose in Lance’s cheeks; equal parts indignant and embarrassed, “The point of lying about these sorts of things is so that people _don’t_ think you’ve been making out in the woods. This is pretty basic stuff.”  
  
  
“Okay, but no matter what you make up they’re probably going to assume that’s what we were doing.”  
  
  
Lance buried his face in his hands in some defeated form of prayer. He took a deep breath in through his nose. “ I’ll just tell them we talked about the last mission.”  
  
  
Keith nodded. “ Well it’s not a lie. Thoroughly edited, but not a lie.”  
  
  
“Let’s just get this over with. I want food.”  
  
  
They both began walking towards the group. Lance saw that a small fire had been set up at the centre of the gathering; Coran apparently having given up on the last one.The man himself was currently waving some weird native flora around. It sounded like he was giving some kind of lecture about it. No one appeared to be particularly invested in the spiel, with the exception of Romelle, who looked alarmed at his words.  
  
  
“Lance?”  
  
  
Keith’s voice drew him out of his analysis. When he flicked his gaze over to him, he was met with a resolute stare.  
  
  
“yeah?”  
  
  
“I’m glad you were the one that came to find me today.”  
  
  
Lance smiled warmly “yeah, me too Keith.”  
  
  
“Don’t you fucking dare try and deny it in the future.”  
  
  
Lance’s smile widened “wouldn’t dream of it.”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading + a special thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos. I hope you enjoyed it because I had a lot of fun writing it!
> 
> May s7 be bountiful bring me more fic inspiration.

**Author's Note:**

> End of part 1 of 2!
> 
>  
> 
> Next chapter should be up very soon. Things will get more emotional.
> 
>  
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think. :^)


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